TREVISO, Italy —An upbeat Danilo Gallinari, speaking while attending the last of the three days of the adidas Eurocamp at the La Ghirada Sports Complex, says his knee rehab is going so well he could be on the court for the start of Nuggets training camp

Gallinari is still recovering from two operations on his left knee that has sidelined him for more than a year and remains 2 1/2 months away from his next rehabilitation benchmark. He said he is ahead of schedule in being able to run and jump without limits in June — after surgery in January that marked the second procedure on the knee within nine months.

Next, he plans to join the Italian national team for seven to 10 days of practices, but not games, in mid-August.

Those would be his first full workouts, free of restrictions, and become a major progress report. If there are no setbacks in his native Italy, and the scheduled visit with his doctor in late August in Colorado goes well, Gallinari is hopeful of being cleared for Day 1 of Nuggets camp and the chance to play in exhibition games.

It is far enough in the distance, though, and enough hurdles remain that Gallinari cannot say with any certainty he will be ready by the end of September. Besides, he’s about the last person who needs to be reminded how tenuous the recovery can be. Gallinari was about eight months into the comeback from surgery to repair a torn cartilage suffered April 3, 2013, when it was determined, before Gallinari had returned to the court, that a second operation would be needed to reconstruct a ligament in the same knee.

“I think training camp is realistic,” he said. “It’s something that we really talked about with the doctor. It’s something that we really want to achieve and we believe is going to be possible.”

Gallinari has not played in 14 months. His return, whenever it happens, would be an emotional lift and, depending on his play, potentially a practical boost for a team that will also add the No. 11 pick heading into the second season under coach Brian Shaw.

“I’m not feeling any pressure,” Gallinari said. “The only thing that I’m feeling is that fire that I have inside right now. I never had it before in my career. When you cannot do what you love for more than one year, it’s like I was saying to the Italian media, it’s like, I don’t know, a mom that doesn’t see her son for more than one year. When you see him, it’s one of the best feelings ever. That’s what I feel right now.

“I think it’s going to change a little bit my mental approach. I’m going to be more aggressive. I think it’s going to help my leadership. I’m going to ready and very focused on the goals we have as a team. It’s something that is going to be in my mind every day. I don’t want nobody to stop me from winning.”

Gallo welcome back I can’t begin to tell you what a true champion and role model you are and how you represent Italy with true dignity. It’s hard to explain to Americans how famous and loved you are in Europe. I wish you a healthy return and finalize that championship run you were leading before you got injured. Take the leadership role on this team and I know one day your jersey will hang from the rafters of the Pepsi center.

Best wishes to his comeback, a terrible injury, I wish athletes would develop their feet more, the feet can absorb shock rather than the knee taking all the punishment. As it stands shod feet promote a heel-strike gait that is murder on the knees.